House Furnace

[Tikvah]

Can anyone give me a good reason why I couldn't use a house type LP furnace in my coach?

I have opportunity to get a very small, 40,000BTU LP horizontal furnace with spark ignition.  That means no pilot to blow out.
It can be ducted anywhere throughout the coach.

Is this crazy?

Dave

[Melbo]

They are not designed for the vibration -- but then again neither are the minisplits -- safety would be my only concern so if you do a good CO detector would be in order

HTH

Melbo

[challenger440]

I use a Rinnai 1004 free standing LP furnace.  It's not ducted but heats the front 2/3 of the bus just fine.  Finding a spot for it is an issue.  38"w x 14d x 28 tall.  Drilled a 2 inch hole out the side of the bus for the intake and exhaust stack.  Works fine.  John M.

[bevans6]

As long as it's propane and not natural gas, I don't see why it wouldn't work.  My RV type propane gas furnace is ducted.  Just work out your clearances, air intake and exhaust, and cold air return ducting - that's what will trip you up.  RV furnaces are designed for basically zero clearance, and have well designed combustion air intake and exhaust that you won't have on a home type furnace, that is designed to set in the middle of a room, be connected to a chimney exhaust (some high efficiency now have high temp PVC exhaust) and use room air for combustion.

Brian

[luvrbus]

Only problem is the blower motor 12V for rv use versus 110V for the home basically that is the only difference between the 2, the venting can be worked out easy

good luck

[sledhead]

The efficiency of the propane furnace could be as high as 96% for the home unit as compared to the 4% or so for the small 12000 btu rv furnace in my coach for back up                    dave

[TomC]

The Differences-typically a house type furnace uses hot air rising to vent the combustion gases compared to the RV type that uses a forced air fan so the combustion air can be ducted out the side. RV units are approved for mobile use. They run on 12vdc. Considering you can get a 35,000btu ducted RV furnace for around $500.00-why risk your multi thousands of dollars in a possible fire by using a non approved propane furnace?  Good Luck, TomC

[Geoff]

The efficiency of the propane furnace could be as high as 96% for the home unit as compared to the 4% or so for the small 12000 btu rv furnace in my coach for back up                    dave

The 96% high efficency of a home furnace comes from their fan control-- the blower fan keeps coming on after the thermostat reaches the set room temperature.  That way you get (almost) every bit of heat out of the system.

I am a Webasto fan, with roof AC's with heat pumps, and electric heaters as backup.  I like the Webasto heat the best as it warms up the interior walls and floor.

--Geoff

[sledhead]

Yes  in floor radiant heat ( off eng. or proheat ) is the best for me           dave